April 2012 story tips
2012-04-04
(Press-News.org) BIOLOGY -- When neutrons and simulation unite . . .
Scientific analysis of proteins, the workhorses of the cellular world, could become easier by uniting experimental and simulation techniques, according to research published in Biophysical Journal. A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Jeremy Smith demonstrated how the combination of high-performance computer simulation and a type of neutron analysis called spin echo can be used to study certain motions in proteins. When large chunks of proteins called domains move relative to each other, these interdomain motions can be detected with spin echo. "Neutron spin echo can detect motions on longer time scales, from nanoseconds to hundreds of nanoseconds, and very interesting motions in proteins occur on those time scales," Smith said. Enhanced interpretation of spin echo data will also aid studies of nonbiological materials such as polymers. [Contact: Morgan McCorkle, (865) 574-7308; mccorkleml@ornl.gov]
MICROSCOPY -- Transfer stage solution . . .
Preserving the integrity of air- or moisture-sensitive samples being transferred from a protective environment to a scanning electron microscope is now easier with a vacuum-tight transfer stage invented at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Jane Howe and Lynn Boatner led a team that has solved a problem that has inexplicably hampered scientists for decades. "One of the challenges of using scanning electron microscopes and other vacuum-based analytical techniques to characterize lithium battery materials is because of their air and moisture sensitive nature," Boatner said. Even exposures of seconds can produce dramatic morphological and chemical composition changes. The ORNL team successfully used its transfer stage to study lithium-ion battery materials in two different scanning electron microscopes with no alterations. Details are outlined in a paper published in the Journal of Materials Science (Vol. 47, No. 3): http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/vacuum-tight-sample-transfer-stage-for-a-scanning-electron-microscopic-EiV21GnUpn. [Contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
ELECTRICITY -- Grid game changer . . .
Waste and inefficiencies in the nation's electric grid could be dramatically reduced with the implementation of a magnetic amplifier being developed by a team led by Aleks Dimitrovski of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Energy and Transportation Science Division. If successful, the electromagnetic-based amplifier-like device would provide low-cost regulation of power flow, a feat that until now was prohibitively expensive. ORNL's controller could provide a reliable cost-effective solution to the problem that plagues the outdated and inefficient grid. "Ordinarily, such a device would require expensive superconductive wire, but the ferromagnetic core design of our device could serve as a low-cost alternative that is equally adept at regulating power flow," Dimitrovski said. [Contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
SUPERCONDUCTORS -- Surprising transitions . . .
Neutron scattering experiments performed on iron-based superconducting material at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Canada's Chalk River Laboratories have unveiled surprising changes in the materials' subatomic structural and magnetic properties when subjected to relatively low pressures. The experiments on barium iron arsenide crystals revealed changes in spin-ordering and phase transitions that offer insight into the dynamics that enable high-temperature superconductivity. Boston University researcher Stephen Wilson, lead author of the Physical Review Letters paper, cited the triple-axis spectrometer at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor along with the laboratory's high-quality crystal fabrication capability in the success of the experiments. "In general, the world-class instruments at HFIR and the high neutron flux there make difficult experiments like this one possible," Wilson said. [Contact: Bill Cabage, (865) 574-4399; cabagewh@ornl.gov]
FUSION -- Taking the heat . . .
The United States is responsible for 8 percent of the Toroidal Field Conductor that the huge experimental fusion reactor now being built in France requires. ITER will use 80,000 kilometers of low-temperature helium-cooled superconducting wire to generate the immense magnetic fields needed to confine the burning plasma. By September, said Kevin Chan, US ITER's Toroidal Field Coil Conductor project engineer, US ITER will have completed its share of that wire to support the toroidal field magnets to rein in the burning plasma. The internal temperature of that plasma will be 150 million to 200 million degrees Celsius -- more than 10 times the internal temperature of the sun. [Written by Agatha Bardoel; media contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
BIOLOGY -- Tracking mercury . . .
How to clean up the mercury in the environment is a major issue for the Department of Energy. Moreover, bioaccumulation of methylmercury is of global concern. Researchers at the Spallation Neutron Source and the Environmental Sciences Division are studying the internal dynamics of a remarkable family of bacteria that eats its way into mercury in nature, transforming it into less toxic forms, without itself being killed in the process. They use the Neutron Spin Echo instrument at SNS to look at the special dynamics inside a protein regulator on the bacteria that allows the bacteria to detect mercury. This regulator initiates the production of the molecular defense machinery that enables it to break down the contaminant. [Written by Agatha Bardoel; media contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
INFORMATION: END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2012-04-04
April 03, 2012— Younger girls are more likely than adult women to report side effects after receiving Gardasil, the human papillomavirus vaccine. The side effects are non-serious and similar to those associated with other vaccines, according to a new study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the Journal of Women's Health.
As part of an ongoing study and evaluation of this relatively new vaccine, researchers surveyed 899 girls and young women (ages 11-26) within two weeks after they received the Gardasil vaccine injection in the upper ...
2012-04-04
Robot squirrels from the University of California, Davis, are going into rattlesnake country near San Jose, continuing a research project on the interaction between squirrels and rattlesnakes.
In the lab, robot squirrels have shown how squirrels signal to snakes with heat and tail flagging. Through field experiments, researchers from San Diego State University and UC Davis aim to learn more about rattlesnake behavior.
It's not the only use of robots to study animal behavior at UC Davis. Terry Ord, a former postdoctoral researcher now at Harvard University, used robot ...
2012-04-04
One of an employer's strongest arguments against a workers' compensation claim is that the person filing for benefits was not an employee at the time of the accident. This is often seen with independent contractors, since they are generally not covered by North Carolina's Workers' Compensation Act.
North Carolina law defines an employee within this Act broadly. The scope includes "every person engaged in an employment under any appointment or contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written, including aliens, and also minors, whether lawfully ...
2012-04-04
ARGONNE, Ill. -- The early days of our solar system might look quite different than previously thought, according to research at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory published in Science. The study used more sensitive instruments to find a different half-life for samarium, one of the isotopes used to chart the evolution of the solar system.
"It shrinks the chronology of early events in the solar system, like the formation of planets, into a shorter time span," said Argonne physicist Michael Paul. "It also means some of the oldest rocks on ...
2012-04-04
Not too long ago, a Florida couple was eagerly awaiting the birth of their new baby. Like most couples, they were excited to bring their little bundle of joy into this world. The doctor and ultrasound technician who read the sonogram didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so the couple anticipated a healthy bouncing baby boy.
Tragically, however, their son was born without any arms and only a single leg. The joy about their son's birth quickly shifted to concern and despair.
In what is often called a wrongful birth suit, the couple sued their health care providers ...
2012-04-04
A current controversy raging in evolutionary biology is whether adaptation to new environments is the result of many genes, each of relatively small effect, or just a few genes of large effect. A new study published in Molecular Ecology strongly supports the first "many-small" hypothesis.
McGill University professor Andrew Hendry, from the Department of Biology and the Redpath Museum, and evolutionary geneticists at Basel University in Switzerland, studied how threespine stickleback fish adapted to lake and stream environments in British Columbia, Canada. The authors ...
2012-04-04
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Add lower gastrointestinal (GI) problems such as ulcers, bleeding and perforations to the list of serious complications facing many rheumatoid arthritis patients. They are at greater risk for GI problems and gastrointestinal-related death than people without the disease, a Mayo Clinic study shows. Researchers say their findings point out the need for new ways to prevent and treat lower GI disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients; the incidence of lower gastrointestinal complications is rising even as upper GI problems decrease significantly among rheumatoid ...
2012-04-04
Reports of teachers having inappropriate relationships with students seem to appear on the news with alarming frequency. The increase in teacher-student relationships may partly be explained by the expanding use of new technology, such as text messaging, email, or social media sites like Facebook.
While these forms of communication may certainly make teaching easier or more appealing to students, they also present a problem for teachers and students alike when discussions veer from classroom topics. Online communications can quickly turn into the basis for allegations ...
2012-04-04
Researchers at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have assembled the draft genome of a marine algae sequence to aid scientists across the US in a project that aims to discover the best algae species for producing biodiesel fuel. The results have been published in Nature Communications.
The necessity of developing alternative, renewable fuel sources to prevent a potential energy crisis and alleviate greenhouse gas production has long been recognized. Various sources have been tried—corn for ethanol and soybeans for biodiesel, for example. But to truly ...
2012-04-04
New Rochelle, NY, April 3, 2012—As the population ages in western countries, traumatic brain injury (TBI) resulting mainly from falls is on the rise among the elderly, introducing new complications and treatment challenges, according to an article in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free on the Journal of Neurotrauma website.
Nino Stochetti and colleagues from University of Milan and San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, and San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy, reported that one in five patients in a series of ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] April 2012 story tips
